Iran has arrested more than 20 people, including senior intelligence officers, military officials and employees of a military-run guesthouse in Tehran, in response to a “massive and humiliating” security breach that enabled the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, according to Iranians familiar with the investigation.
The high-profile arrests came after the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, who led Hamas’s political bureau in Qatar and was visiting Tehran to attend the inauguration of Iran’s new president and was staying at the guesthouse in northern Tehran, according to a report in The New York Times.
“The perception that Iran cannot protect its own territory or its key allies could be fatal to the Iranian regime,” said Ali Vaez, Iran director at the International Crisis Group, according to the New York Times.
The Revolutionary Guard’s elite spy unit has taken over the investigation and is hunting down suspects in the hope of leading them to members of the hit squad that planned, aided and carried out the killing, according to the Iranian officials, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the investigation.
News of the sweeping arrests comes after the Revolutionary Guards said in a statement that “the scope and details of this incident are under investigation and will be announced at the appropriate time.”
The Revolutionary Guards have yet to release any details about the arrests or their investigation into the explosion, including its cause, but have vowed severe revenge, as has Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who ordered strikes on Israel in response, according to Iranian officials.
The intensity and scope of the Revolutionary Guards’ investigation reveal the degree to which the assassination has shocked and shaken the country’s leadership.
According to the American newspaper, “the deadly explosion was not just a devastating collapse of intelligence and security; not just a failure to protect a key ally; not just evidence of inability to curb Mossad infiltration; not just a humiliating blow to reputation. It was all of these things, and more.”
But more importantly, the attack led to a shocking realization that if Israel could target such an important guest, on a day when the capital was under tight security, and carry out the attack in a heavily guarded compound equipped with bulletproof windows, air defense and radar, no one would be truly safe.
“This security breach requires different policies and strategies,” Sasan Karimi, a political analyst in Tehran, said in a telephone interview. “It could be arresting spies if there was infiltration, or retaliation if the operation was carried out from outside the border, or a combination of the two.”
A few days before Haniyeh’s assassination, Iran’s intelligence minister, Seyed Esmail Khatib, told local media that Iran had “dismantled and destroyed a network of Mossad infiltrators who were assassinating some of our scientists every day and sabotaging our key facilities.”
Then came the shock of Haniyeh’s assassination.
After the attack, Iranian security agents raided the IRGC-affiliated guesthouse compound where Haniyeh frequently stayed — in the same room — during his visits to Tehran. The agents placed all of the guesthouse’s staff under house arrest, arrested some, and confiscated all electronic devices, including personal phones, according to the Iranians.
A separate team of agents also interrogated senior military and intelligence officials who were responsible for protecting the capital, placing several of them in detention pending investigations, according to the Iranians.
When the security agents raided the guesthouse compound, they combed every inch of it, examining months-old surveillance cameras and guest lists.
They also checked the comings and goings of the staff, who undergo a rigorous pre-employment screening and are drawn from the ranks and enlisted men of the IRGC as well as the Basij, a paramilitary volunteer task force, according to the Iranian officials.
The two Iranian officials said the investigation also focused on Tehran’s international and domestic airports, where agents were based, and examined months of camera footage from arrivals and departures and flight manifests.
They said Iran believes members of the Mossad hit squad are still in the country and their goal is to arrest them.
An Iranian member of the Revolutionary Guard, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said he was unaware of the arrests but said security protocols had been completely overhauled in the past two days for senior officials, security details for senior officials had been changed, electronic equipment such as cellphones had been swapped out, and some senior officials had been moved to a different location.
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